“Wait. When’s your birthday?” Ody asked, smirking.
“March sixteenth.”
“Mine’s May fourteenth.” Ody paused for a second, doing the math. Then his eyes widened. “Oh shit. That’s more than two years.”
Mano laughed. The sound made Ody smile.
“That makes me older by two years and two months,” Mano said with a smug smile. “Mikre.”
Ody pouted. “Do you want pajamas or not?”
“No. I’m fine like this.”
“Yeah, but they got dirty when they…” His tone faltered. He glanced down, sighing. “Is it bad that I wanna do to them what they did to you?”
Mano lifted his eyes to him, his expression firm. “Calm down, mikre. I don’t want to worry about you too. You can’t take them on.”
“Why? Could you? Who can handle six guys with weapons?” Ody snapped.
Mano held his gaze for a moment, then looked away. “What’s done is done,” he said. “If you don’t mess with them, they won’t hurt you. They told me.” He forced the next words out. “You were right. Just sit back and take it.”
Ody frowned. “What?”
Kash’s voice echoed in his head. “If you try to play hero again, I’ll beat Ody worse than I’m beating you.”
Mano looked down. “Just... act like I never got involved.”
Ody stared at him, confused. This didn’t sound like Mano at all.
“You said what they did to you wasn’t a big deal,” Mano added. “Just… try to bear it. If you don’t want things to get worse.”
The words tasted like poison. Mano hated himself for saying them, but he’d choke on his pride if it meant keeping Ody safe.
Ody watched him, and something shifted in his expression. He thought Mano was scared for himself, that the beating hadshaken him more than he let on. “You’re right,” he said. “I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing. And if you ever see them messing with me... stay out of it. Okay?”
Mano couldn’t bring himself to look at him. It made his stomach twist worse than any punch. How was he supposed to let them hurt Ody again and do nothing?
“I’ll head inside. If you need anything, text me. I’ll come back in two hours with the painkiller.” Ody stepped out and closed the door.
Mano pulled the sheet over himself. The door suddenly swung open again, making him jump. “What happened?” he asked.
“We didn’t say goodnight.”
Mano rolled his eyes and lay back down.
“Hey,” Ody whined.
“What do you want?”
“I said goodnight.”
“Bye.” Mano pulled the sheet over his head.
“I’m not leaving until you say goodnight.”
“Leave me alone.”
“Goodnight, I said.”
